Call it a sales symphony, because quality sales cadences sing to every business’s desired tune. Sales cadences - inbound or outbound - refer to a wave of strategies a business implements in order to boost audience engagement and, well, sales. 

All scheduled in one place, sales cadences allow sales reps to touch upon the audience sentiment, be it through email, social media platforms, phone, or follow-up messages. Far from just targeting the dream audience for every business, sales cadences also elevate brand awareness, provide client education, and nurture client interaction.

Below, read what makes for a sublime sales cadence, and who should write it in the first place. 

Why Sales Leaders Focus on Email Cadences

If you haven’t embarked on your sales cadence journey, you ought to keep up - and here’s why.

• Email is favored by 87% of B2B marketers; 78% of them noted increased engagement. Budget-friendly ($10-$1500 per month for SMBs), email strategies scale ROI for all B2B companies. 

• Attracting prospect replies is a tough nut to crack. After all, the average email open rate is at a modest 20.81%. Emails had to evolve, refine, and personalize - which they did.  

• Decision-makers still find email appealing - perhaps more so than before. Why? It works. 

By 2023, 32% of B2B marketers reported they’ll use email marketing strategies as a lead form of audience engagement. 

High-performing vs. Underperforming Email Cadences: ROI, ACV & Examples 

In 2022, email marketing Return on Investment (ROI) stands at 4200%. In other words, for every $1 you spend, your company earns $42, indicating a high-performing email cadence. One of the leading metrics to determine ROI is by calculating the ACV (Annual Contract Value). 

To ensure your email cadence is performing optimally, do A/B testing and compare two versions of the same message to measure their performance. 

Here is an example that puts numbers into perspective: Suppose your ACV is $5,000, and you contacted 100 cold accounts per week, with an email campaign conversion rate of 2%. In this scenario, the 2% conversion rate of 100 contacts gets you 2 qualified deals a week. 

If your qualified-to-closed ratio is 20%, you will be closing 0.4 deals a week. This equals closing approximately 2 new deals every month. The added ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) here will be $10,000 (2x$5,000).

If in the same scenario you have a 4% email campaign conversion rate, you will double the ARR to $20,000 on the same accounts and without any extra effort.  

You might also increase the efficiency of the qualified-to-closed ratio from 20% to 30%. If your email conversion rate remains at 2%, your ARR will estimate $15,000, earning you 2.4-3 deals. Doing the same math for the 4% conversion rate gives you an added ARR of $25,000. 

Other Channels for Sales Cadences

Email aside, other successful B2B sales cadence resources include: 

• Social media. More than 70% of B2B marketers who’ve been using social media for the last 12 months reported that it helped them improve sales.

• Blogging. According to 52% of B2B marketers, blogging is the most essential tactic for their success in content marketing.

• Smartphones.50% of B2B queries are made on a smartphone.

Why the Right Message Boosts Sales Cadences

Quality content helps send the right message and kicks your sales cadence up a few notches. 

Devising a powerful B2B message requires captivating, engaging, and educating your clientele.

Most B2B prospects get an average of 150+ emails a day. Think whether your message draws clients in enough. Standing out from the B2B outreach crowd is a must if you want to ensure your email sequence gets a reply.

What Makes a Great Cold Sales Email? 

Here are a few pro tips on creating and sending the most sophisticated email sales message: 

• Include a personalized subject line. A personalized subject line catches the prospect’s attention faster than any other email they receive. Personalizing your sales subject line will stand out from a clutter of inbox messages. Not to mention, 58% of the revenue comes from personalized emails.   

• Resonate with your audience. Customers don’t want you to oversell products, instead show that you understand them. A great way to do this is to create a message that speaks to the prospect’s pain and concerns and educates them on the possible solutions at hand. Personalization is everything - the days of automated emails are gone.

• Back up your claims. Selling comes with some risk, so credibility should be your top asset. Share testimonials, showcase the facts and stats, and always be transparent.    

Sales Reps vs. Marketers: The Issue of Owning Cadences

There is an ongoing dispute about whether sales reps or marketers should write sales cadences. On one hand, marketers have a greater understanding of the value proposition and overall messaging tone of the company. On the other, sales reps are more proficient in creating the ICP - ideal customer profile. They are in constant contact with customers and know what makes them tick. 

Why Shouldn’t Sales Reps Write the Whole Cadence?

Sales reps typically devote a lot of time to personalize emails in an effort to get a response. 

Oftentimes, sales reps tend to write an email sequence from scratch. But given that marketers are more proficient writers and know how to add value to the message, they need to be included in the creative process as well. With their assistance, sales reps can not only personalize sales messages but also ensure their consistency, targeting success, and value. 

Keep in mind, sales reps are not trained to be official writers - but they know how to use persuasive language to sell. In a way, leaving the cadence writing to reps will leave out the targeted marketing touch along with the message value.

Who Should Write Sales Cadences?

Both marketers and sales development reps should be integral parts of writing brand sales messages. 

As a B2B company, your job is to nurture a positive and balanced environment so both teams are on the same page. For the most efficient sales cadence writing, divide the writing process among salespeople and marketers to emphasize their strongest content writing points.

For example:

• Marketers can do a great job with highlighting the product positioning templates. 

• Marketers can write content triggers to set the message tone and drive more conversations. This will also help them anticipate the next steps of the cadence.

• Marketers can test how well their triggers work - manually or via marketing automation. The triggers will define how much prospects engage with each touchpoint. 

• Marketers can write up a great response message to each trigger of the prospect. This can be done by including if/then actions, and by offering relevant content that gives answers/clarification/additional elaboration to the prospect. 

In comparison: 

• Sales reps can help warm up prospects and create a message tailored to their ICP.

• Reps can touch upon the prospect’s pain points to deliver a targeted experience. 

• Sales reps can personalize prospect messages and create a unique subject line that speaks directly to each individual.

• Salespeople can add value to the email message. They’ll share strong resources with prospects to help them find a suitable solution to their problem.

• Salespeople can keep the message short, relevant, and curiosity-driven. Asking a question and hinting at a problem solution are some of the ways sales reps do this.  

In some cases, you might also explore external resources to elevate your sales cadences. One approach is to collaborate with a professional ghostwriting company. These specialized services excel in creating impactful sales content that resonates with your target audience.

Why Sales Reps Shouldn’t Write the Whole Cadence?

Not all sales reps are made the same - they have different writing styles which might lead to representing your product differently. Whilst SDRs shouldn’t be excluded from writing the sales cadence altogether, you need to ensure they are consistent in the way they deliver the message.   

Why Should Marketing Take Input from Reps?

Some of the reasons why sales reps can assist marketing teams in writing sales cadences are:

• Salespeople have deep client knowledge and know their common questions, interests, and concerns. Marketers can use this information to create better messaging.

• A sales team will have a clear idea of the value of generating lasting conversions. They turn cold leads into warm ties and marketers can benefit from learning these ropes.

• Sales reps know the client’s purchasing game. The sales and marketing funnel tends to be slow and one-sided, making the purchasing process challenging to assess. Salespeople understand sales funnels and know - unhappy clients talk the most. 

Best Practices for Successful Sales Cadences

Let’s go through some of the leading practices for carrying out a proficient sales cadence.

• Devise an ICP. Creating an Ideal Customer Profile enables you to pitch to conversion-friendly clients, approach suitable audiences, and quantify them by age, location, etc. 

• Define the number of touchpoints. A good rule of thumb is to have between 8-12 touchpoints and opt for the lower end. A smaller number gives more room for conversion.

• Test your content. There’s no official way to create a working sales cadence, but you can make the most of what works for you. Test a few options and approaches to find what fits your business glove. 

• Resort to new communication channels. Emails, texts, social media, phone calls, and more can become your partners in sending the right sales message to clients. Be open to new channels for prospecting. If you are a SaaS startup, scout sites, send emails, and use social media to get favorable responses. 

• Choose the right timing. You need to be familiar with your audience and when they respond and interact the best. Time your messages and connection times based on their activity habits. 

• Understand when to close the sequence. A sales cadence duration should take between 2-4 weeks. Although, everything is based on the nature of the B2B industry, the decisions made in the process, and the approach method. If your emails are not as responsive anymore, consider closing the sequence after two weeks. For cadences that spark up interest, going up to four weeks is enough. 

There’s no doubt that outbound sales cadences are your fast card to success. Apt for all SMBs and B2B companies looking to enlarge their online presence, email sales cadences are a joint effort of salespeople and marketers and can eliminate assumptions, instead ensuring you reach the right audience - through sending the right message.